Finding the way Back Home
by Shelby the Hedgehog
Summary: Sonic Tails and Knuckles have vanished and only three girls remember them. Trapped in a world that seems to be without Team Sonic they must figure out a riddle in a dream, find Team Sonic, find out where they are and the whole time finding a way back home
1. What's Happened to the World?

**Shelby**

** What's Happened to the World?**

A pair of opal blue eyes snapped wide open. The blue hedgehog that owned them snapped straight up in her bed and looked around, relaxing when she realized she was still only in her bedroom.

"Man, that sure was a weird dream." She whispered to herself.

She continued to look around her room, wondering what in the world was going on.

"Must be pretty early, the sun's not even up." She said, noticing the darkness filled windows.

But it wasn't just the windows that were bothering her, that dream that she had. It was more like a nightmare. She closed her eyes and remembered what she could.

In it, she was floating about twenty feet above a strange room but she recognized it at once: it was Eggman's base!

"It's finally finished!" He roared.

Before him stood a strange device it was a HUGE hoop shape, almost as if it were to open a portal.

"That thing is as big as Akakabuto!" She said in shock.

"Now, I'll just set in the date and soon, I'll be free of Knuckles, Tails, and that annoying Sonic!" He laughed.

"He's nuts!" She whispered. "Well, I'm not going to let him get away!"

The next thing she remembered, she was in a large clearing, completely untouched by Eggman.

"Whoa." She whispered, having almost forgotten that something this beautiful could exist.

"HELP!"

She was snapped from her thoughts when she spotted Eggman and a group of robots! They had cornered a family of hedgehogs, totally scared out of their wits.

"Get away from them!" She cried and charged the closest. She stood on one leg to kick one and hit! There was a strange tingling in her leg. It didn't hurt but it was strange. She looked and saw what it was. She just fazed right through it! "What the?"

Eggman then made a snatch for one of the hedgehogs, a small blue one.

"NO, SONIC!" She heard the mother cry!

"SONIC?!" She cried, in shock. "EGGMAN! PUT HIM DOWN!"

They just acted like she wasn't there.

"Okay, now I'm mad." She said and charged them again. But like before, she fazed right through them, a tingling feeling running through whatever part of her body as touching it.

"GIVE HIM BACK!" She ordered. They just kept on walking. "BRING HIM BACK RIGHT NOW!" She could only watch as they took away the small blue puffball.

"SONIC!" The parents cried.

She slowly turned to them, and gasped! They both looked just like her friend! She regained her composer and slowly walked to them.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save your son." She said, looking to the ground.

"Sonic." The mother cried.

The next thing she remembered was being in a sort of park. All around people were screaming!

"What now?" She asked herself.

She turned on her heal and saw Eggman and the same robots, but no Sonic. This time, however, Eggman had a small fox in his hand, holding it by its…two…tails?

"TAILS!" She cried in shock! "PUT HIM DOWN RIGHT NOW!"

She charged the robots again, but nothing happened! She fazed right through the robot she was trying to attack, the tingling feeling running through her body again.

"Come, we've got what we wanted." Eggman said and marched off with his robots.

"BRING TAILS BACK RIGHT NOW OR ELSE!" She warned and went on the attack again. But like before, it was useless.

The next that she could remember was being at the shine of the Master Emerald. And again, Eggman was there, a group of robots with him. And this time, he had a small red echidna!

"KNUCKLES! EGGMAN! YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON HERE BEFORE IT GETS UGLY, AND I DON'T MEAN YOU!" She yelled, hot tears in her eyes.

They paid her no head, and moved on. She wasn't going to let them take away Knuckles, she didn't want them to take away any of them! She kept on attacking Eggman and the robots, even though she kept fazing right through them, the tingling feeling rushing through her whole body.

One of the last things she remembered was being in a sort of black void, a single light shining over her head.

"Now where am I?" She asked. "This better not be The Zone of Silence. I always thought it was a little different from this."

"Find your friends you must." An ominous voice said. "Find those who bare the twelve crests. Save the future of this great calamity. Stop Robotnik. Save the three. Find the barer of hope. Free his black heart. Bring the light to this world. Cleanse it of the darkness that will settle on the world. Only then can you return."

After that, she had woken up she had seen something terrible: Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, held to a wall with some sort of energy shackles. They looked awful, badly beaten, a sick look on each of them. They looked like they may die at any given time.

That's when she noticed something about her bedroom: there was sense of impending doom, and it was very strong.

"What in the name of the Chaos Emeralds is going on around here?" She asked herself as she threw her covers from her body.

She slowly walked to the window, not sure as to what she'd see. Once she was close enough, she slowly opened the curtains and looked out. What she saw shocked her! The peaceful beautiful valley that she had once called home was gone, and its place was a valley of robot factories all of them belonging to the fat doctor.

"What in the world?" She asked. "How could egg belly do all of this in just one night, and without me noticing? I better check this out."

She raced into her bathroom and pulled on her usually clothes. The fabrics were the only things familiar to her at the moment.

She checked everything over just to make sure. She was still wearing her blue jeans, a white t-shirt with sky blue sleeves, a yellow turtleneck collar, a sky blue heart on the front of the t-shirt, white gloves, white socks, and red orange sneakers. That was everything.

"I hope the rest of the house is still the same." She said to herself and opened her bedroom door.

To her relief, everything in the mansion had somehow, one way or another, stayed the same. She then came to the basement door, praying that what was in it was still the same. She raced down the stairs and to the back wall. She pressed a single stone and the whole wall lifted up, revealing a steal tunnel.

"Safe B.C.E. Thank goodness." She said.

She quickly typed in the code in the keyboard and the lift was quickly moving through the five levels of security.

"The crushers, the lasers, the freeze rays, the laser web, and the robot wild cats." She said, as she quickly passed each level, grateful to know they were still in working order.

Once she passed the final level of security, she jumped from the lift and into the large room. It was totally bare except for a single white table that seemed to curve up from the floor and on it was a small safe. She quickly ran up to it. She entered the code, had her eye scanned, her DNA scanned, and voice entered code.

"Delta breaker red, code: zero, zero echo, niner." She said, in sighting the code perfectly.

"Voice print: a proofed." The computerized voice said and the door opened.

She sighed with relief seeing that the few items that were put in the safe were still there. Her most valued treasures.

"The black chaos emerald." She said, dipping into the safe. "The necklace that Shadow gave me, and the Crest of Light."

Once she placed the black jewel in her pocket, she hung the necklace and crest around her neck. She felt relieved to have them around her neck. The crest hung close to her heart, while the necklace hung just over it.

"Now to find out what in the world is going on." She said.

She quickly raced back up to the main floor, and peeked out the window. The once peaceful town looked even worse then it did in her bedroom. Sighing, she slowly walked out. She was greeted by a blast of smelly fumes.

"BLEK! How can Robotnik stand this?" She asked, pinching her nose shut.

Ignoring the strong fumes, she continued out of her mansion, and began the long walk into town. Normally she would have used her super sonic speed to get down there but she didn't know what waited for her so she didn't want to take her chances.

By the time she finally did reach town, she had gotten used to the fumes it was still terrible. It was no wonder that the few plants that she saw were all dead the air smelled like rusted metal but worse.

"I ask again. How can egg belly stand this? It smells worse then HIS breath!" She said to herself.

"KEEP WORKING!" A robotic voice said.

"What the?" She asked, running to the source of the voice.

She ran down an alley way and saw a group of robots, heavily armed with lasers, and they surrounding a group of prisoners! Those prisoners seemed awfully familiar to the blue female hedgehog. That's when it hit her!

"AMY! CREAM! CHEESE! CHOCOLA! VANILLA!" She almost screamed. "What has Robotnik done?"

Her five friends were total messes she barely even recognized them. They looked more like slaves from Egypt way back when. A robot suddenly pulled out a laser whip, and hit Vanilla!

"Mother!" Cream cried, running to her fallen mother's side.

"KEEP WORKING!" The robot said and raised its whip again to strike Cream!

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" She cried and grabbed the whip!

"What the?" She heard Amy saying.

"Hurry, get out of here!" She said, pulling down the bot.

She then saw that her five friends looked totally scared. She then saw that they had shackles attached to their legs or in the choas' case, around their whole lower bodies.

"Oh boy." She whispered.

She gave the bot a good kick and ran to their aid. She reached down and pulled hard at the chains, causing them to snap! Amy was freed from Cream, Cream was then freed from Cheese, who was then freed from his twin, and the golden choa was then freed from the older rabbit.

"Come on!" She said, helping Vanilla to her feet.

She quickly took the lead, letting the others follow her. She didn't know anything about this city but she couldn't leave her friends with those bots.

'Come on, come on let me find us a place to hide.' She thought.

She then made a sharp turn into an alleyway. She then quickly looked around, if they didn't find a place to hide, they'd be caught and who knew what would happen if that happened?

"Quickly, this way!"

"Huh?" She looked down and saw a familiar pink hedgehog.

'ICY!' She thought, relieved to see her friend.

"Come on!" She said, pushing the manhole cover a side.

"You heard her!" She told them. "Get moving!"

Amy quickly climbed down, with Cream following, the two choa hanging onto her ears, Vanilla then went down, and finally she went down herself. It was a quick climb down the ladder, and she was finally relieved when her feet reached the ground.

"Are you all alright?" Icy asked.

"Yes, I think so." Amy said. "If it weren't for her, I don't think we would have been." And the pink hedgehog pointed to the blue one.

Icy quickly walked up to her, eyeing her suspiciously. Amy's look alike slowly circled her.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Shelby, Shelby the Hedgehog." She said, confused. Even if Eggman had taken over, there was no way Icy would ever forget her, or any of the others.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Icy asked, her icy pink eyes sparkling cold.

"You could say that." Shelby said, watching one of her best friends continue to circle her.

"Where are you from?" Icy asked.

"I come and go as I please." She said, eyeing Icy just as much as she was her.

"Are you a member of the Freedom Fighters?" Icy asked.

"Sort of, I move around so much, that I never really remain anywhere for too long." She answered.

"Good enough for me." Icy said. "I'm Rika, I'm the leader of the Freedom Fighters here."

'WHAT!?' Shelby thought. 'Rika only wants me to call her by her nickname, Icy! What's going on here?'

"So, how long you plan on staying?" Rika asked.

"Not sure, I've never seen so much damage done to one place." She said. "I might end up staying here for a while."

"Why's that?" Rika asked.

"If I ever see any of this kind of mess, I stop and take it out." She shrugged, not liking having to answer so many absurd questions.

"If you are going to stay here and fight against Robotnik, you'll have to come with me, you five too." She said, looking at Amy and the others.

"Of coarse." Cream said.

"Then follow me." She said and started walking.

All during the walk, Shelby took in the differences in Rika. One: She was nicer. Two: She didn't have her usual scowl. Three: She didn't recognize her. Four: She was wearing baggy murky brown jeans, and a brown top that hung on her shoulders. Five: She was more accepting to others. Six: Her fur was a little ratty now. Seven: She was walking now, instead of running. Eight: Her eyes weren't nearly as cold as before. Nine: She wanted to be called by her actual name now, and she began to search for number ten.

"Here we are." Rika said.

They had arrived at a wall and Rika gave it a push, revealing an under ground base!

"Wow." Amy said in awe.

"Been a slave to Robotnik for years, never seen a Freedom Fighter base before?" Rika asked.

"No." She said, shaking her head.

"You're gonna love it." Rika said, walking into the base.

'She never says 'love'!' Shelby thought. 'Something is very, very, very wrong here.'

The group slowly walked into the base, eyeing everything they could. However, Shelby was more into those who were in the base. She recognized each and every face but there were terrifying changes, they had scars that weren't originally there, they were missing certain scars, some of them were even missing some of their body parts! The first one she noticed to have such a change was Bat the Bat. He was originally blind and had scars over his eyes, but now, he was missing one of his ears and had a small bit of the other missing.

'What's happened here?' She thought. 'Everything is…different, there's no way anyone, not even Eggman, could do this much damage in just one night. Where am I?'

"Shelby?" Rika asked.

"Huh? What is it?" She asked.

"You seemed to be a little lost." Rika said.

"Just thinking." Shelby replied.

"'Bout what?" Rika asked.

"Well, I used to have a lot of friends who look like the Freedom Fighters here, but they don't look the same as the ones here." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"But you just said-"

"I know, but they're missing things that my friends have and they have things that some of my friends are missing."

"Such as?"

"That bat over there." She said, pointing. "He looks like one of my friends, but he has his eyes, my friend lost them both fights, making him totally blind, and he has both of his ears."

"Someone who looks like Bat? That's a first." Rika said.

"Bat?" Shelby asked. "Strange, that's what my friend's name is too."

"Really?" Rika asked, a bit of surprise in her voice.

"Yeah, there were a lot of us, but I haven't seen them in a while." Shelby said, leaning against a wall.

"What happened?" Rika asked.

"Well, something came up and I had to leave." Shelby said, looking to a monitor.

"What where they like?" Rika asked.

"Well, they all had a strong sense of justice, some of them were against us at first but we managed to show them the light." She said, remembering them.

"Like?" Rika asked.

"There were only two of them really, Bat was one of them while Kite was the other." She said, remembering the fights that opened their hearts.

"And you trusted them?" Rika asked with shock in her voice.

"The door's to their hearts were closed, both of them were fighting some of my friends, Kite was going up against Tesshin and Bat was going up against Ken and Kagetora. Kite had gotten a long stick caught in his collar, and was caught in the nook of a tree. He was going to be strangled to death but Tesshin pushed him up, keeping him from dying. Ken and Kagetora had mercy when fighting Bat, something no one had ever done. If they had met people like us sooner, I think they would have made better choices but if they hadn't, I don't think we would have ever met them."

"You think so?" Rika asked.

"Well, we've gone through quite a lot, so maybe." Shelby said, closing her eyes.

"Who are you thinking about now?" Rika asked.

"A very special friend of mine, her name's Icy." She said, remembering her. "You sort of remind me of her, only, she's much colder around others, been that way ever since…"

"Ever since what?" Rika asked.

"It…It's nothing" She said.

"Sure doesn't sound like nothing." Rika said.

"It was just very painful and leave at that." She said, opening her eyes.

Rika looked into her pain filled eyes, it most certainly wasn't 'nothing'.

"Look, it was about a month after her father died." Shelby said knowing Rika wasn't going to give. "She started dating this guy and he hurt her really badly. I'd rather not go into details. Let's just say that after that, things were never the same again."

"She was hurt badly, wasn't she?" Rika asked.

"Yep." She nodded.

"Did he get roboticzed?" Rika asked.

"No." She said, shaking her head. "He…turned traitor."

Rika looked at her in shock!

"Joined Robotnik. Been trying to kill us for a longtime now." She continued. "We barely got away with our lives the first time."

She didn't know if it was true or not, something very fishy was going on here, and knowing him, he probably was with Robotnik. She mind was then drawn to two others.

"Now what are you thinking about?" Rika asked.

"Two of my best friends, Topaz and May. They're my best friends, I wonder if they're okay. I…wonder if they're even alive." Shelby said, looking to the ceiling.

"Don't worry, where might we find them?" Rika asked.

"Well, Topaz usually hangs out around the Mystic Ruins. And May is usually at Angel Island." Shelby said, knowing that May was usually at a mall if not the Floating Island.

"You mean the Floating Island?" Rika asked. "No one lives there. Only a bunch of Robotnik's factories are there. And the Mystic Ruins is where Robotnik keeps the prisoners ready for the rooticzer."

"Well, you don't know them like I do." Shelby said. 'But, what if something terrible is happening to them? What's going on? What has happened to the world? And what about Topaz and May?' She thought.

Little did Shelby know, her two friends were wondering the same things that she was.


	2. What's Happened to the Mystic Ruins?

**Topaz**

**What's Happened to the Mystic Ruins?**

Topaz awoke with a start! Her aqua green eyes scanned the surrounding area.

"How'd I get outside?" She asked, standing up. "I'm in the Mystic Ruins."

She was in the beautiful place but something was off. She looked around. Where was the train station?

"Something's not right here." She whispered. "I better check up on Tails."

The female look alike of the young fox took to the air, spinning her two tails as fast as she could. Once she was high enough, she could see the hill that Tails' workshop had been built on but there was something wrong.

"WHERE'S TAILS' WORKSHOP!?" Topaz cried, almost falling to the ground.

The small workshop was indeed missing. Not even the palm trees that decorated the runway were there. The runway was actually missing!

"Tails?" Topaz asked.

"KEEP MOVING!"

"What the?" Topaz asked upon hearing the robotic voice.

She slowly flew down from the sky and looked around. She saw some sort of root, holding a laser whip in one hand.

"What's going on here?" Topaz asked, batting the small tuff of hair that hung just over her eyes.

"KEEP WORKING!" The robot droned again.

Topaz continued watching in confusion. Her aqua green eyes sparkling like the sea, a hint of confusion in them.

"I bet my ponytail and ribbon that Eggman has something to do with this." She said, giving her short ponytail a quick toss, the red ribbon that held in place shining.

That was the first time Topaz noticed a strong scent in the air like pollution, a LOT of pollution, almost making her sneeze.

"What is that?" She asked, holding her nose. "It's worse then Eggman's breath!"

"KEEP WORKING!"

Topaz was drawn away from the stench and back to the robot. It raised the whip to a young fox cub! Topaz grabbed a stone and hurdled it right at the robot's hand. A direct hit! Topaz quickly ducked just before the robot spotted her. She peeked out and saw the robot turning back to foxes. They seemed painfully familiar. Then it hit her!

"ONYX! EMERALD! GEMSTONE!" She almost screamed.

She could barely believe her eyes! What had happened to them? Their once beautiful fur that they took such great care of was now messed up and ratted. There were at least three inches of dirt built up on them. Topaz couldn't take it. She charged!

"LET THEM GO!" She ordered the robot.

It turned and barely had a second to react before she took to the air and kicked its head off! She then turned to her three friends. Onyx's black fur was now dull and dirty, heavy bags were under her eyes, her once silver eyes had now lost their glimmer. Emerald's emerald fur was now a murky green she too had heavy bags under her eyes, and her hot pink eyes were now nothing but dull pink orbs. And Gemstone, her once proud face was now weak, full of pain and suffering, her energy seemed completely wiped out.

"Are you guys alright?" Topaz asked.

"Y…Yes." Onyx said quietly.

"It's okay, I'm getting you guys out of here." Topaz said.

"How?" She asked.

"Yeah, with these on our legs." Gemstone said, pointing to her ankle.

Shackles were chained around their legs. Topaz looked at them confused. Onyx or Emerald could easily shred those chains or Gemstone could melt them with her Fox Tail Inferno. She just put these off to the side and walked up to the shackles.

"You might want to stand back." She warned.

The three foxes slowly got as far away from the others as the chains would let them. Topaz then started spinning on her toes, turning her tails into blades, and cut clear through the chains. The other three were in surprise!

"How did you do that?" Onyx asked.

"It's pretty easy when you have two tails." Topaz said, it was no big deal, she and Emerald could easily do it and Gem had nine tails so it came natural for her.

"ATTACK!"

The four foxes had forgotten about the robots. Now they were swarming! Topaz looked around franticly. Then, she saw it! The entrance to Windy Valley!

"C'mon!" She cried grabbing Onyx by the wrist.

She jumped over the robots and then dropped straight onto one, crushing it.

"COME ON!" Topaz said again.

This time Emerald ad Gemstone followed. The robots started firing at them but they kept missing.

"Man, their aim is getting worse!" Topaz laughed.

The orange fox made a sharp turn and ran into the cave that, lead into Windy Valley. Emerald and Gemstone followed as fast as they could but Topaz noticed something…off. Gemstone was one of the fastest foxes of all their friends, and she wasn't even going very fast.

'Is she sick or something?' Topaz thought. 'Gem is always faster then that! What's going on here?'

Topaz came back to reality when she saw the wind tunnel that would take them to Windy Valley.

"The gale isn't very strong, someone must have moved the stone." Topaz said, noticing the weak wind.

"What stone?" Gemstone asked.

Topaz quickly looked around. Then she spotted it. Hidden in some weeds, was a green gem on a grey stone.

"Perfect!" Topaz said, grabbing the stone.

"What is that?" Gemstone asked.

Topaz didn't answer, she just placed it close to a small alter near the hole the wind was coming up from. It floated in the air for a few seconds and then stopped over the tiny alter then floated down into a small opening. There was a loud clicking sound that echoed throughout the cave. In less then a second, the wind turned into a gale.

"YES!" Topaz cried.

"What's happened?" Gemstone asked.

"OUR ESCAPE!" Topaz cried over the winds. "COME ON! LAST ONE INTO WINDY VALLEY'S A BUTTNIK PRISONER! HA, HA, HA!" And with that said, Topaz jumped into the strong winds and was rocketed up into the opening above. The other three foxes watched in astonishment.

"I'm gonna do it!" Onyx said and ran into the wind. She flew into the air at incredible speeds. "WHOA! THIS IS GREAT!" Onyx cried before she was out of sight!

Gemstone looked at Emerald. The green fox ran straight into the wind without so much as a word. She floated in the air for a few seconds and then was rocket into the air! Leaving Gemstone behind.

"Better then being a slave to Robotink." She finally whispered and jumped into the wind. The gale sent her flying into the air in seconds. "WHOA! THIS IS WAY BETTER THEN WORKING FOR ROBOTNIK!"

"WHO'D WANNA WORK FOR THAT SLEEZE ANYWAY?" Topaz asked.

"DID YOU JUST INSAULT ROBOTNIK?" Onyx asked.

"YEAH, I HATE THE GUY!" Topaz said as the wind rushed around her.

"YOU'RE A BRAVE SOUL!" Gemstone said.

"GUYS, I THINK WE'VE GOT COMPANY!" Topaz said, looking down.

The other foxes looked down, and saw what she meant. The robots had followed them into the tunnel.

"OH, THEY'RE GOING TO CATCH US AND PUT US TO DEATH, I JUST KNOW IT!" Onyx said.

"BUT THEY HAVE TO CATCH US FIRST! I KNOW WINDY VALEY LIKE THE BACK OF MY HAND, THEY'RE NEVER GONNA CATCH US!" Topaz said.

"IF YOU SAY SO." Onyx said.

The four foxes suddenly landed on hard ground.

"Ow." Onyx said, rubbing her tail. WAIT! Tail? Onyx had two tails! She was missing one! Topaz looked at Emerald. She was missing her second tail as well! She then looked at Gemstone. Her heart almost stopped, Gemstone was missing eight of her nine tails! Topaz struggled not to scream.

"Where are we?" Gem asked.

"Windy Valley." Topaz said, her heart still in her throat.

"What's that noise?" Onyx asked.

Topaz perked her ears. Everyone knew that the wind in Windy Valley curved, hit so may things, and whipped so much that it made music. It was the Windy Valley theme.

"What is that noise?" Gem asked.

"What noise?" Topaz asked.

"The one all around us." Gem said.

"That's not noise, that's music!" Topaz said, spinning her tails.

"'Music'?" Gem asked.

"You don't know what music is?" Topaz asked her jaw dropped wide open.

"I thought it was just a myth." Onyx said.

"Nope, it's for real, it's all around us!" Topaz said.

"Where are we anyway?" Gem asked.

Topaz looked around. They were in the final stretch of the Windy Valley course, the same one that Sonic and Tails raced in.

"Follow me." Topaz said, heading for the track.

"Hey, where are you going?" Onyx called.

"Making something." Topaz said, grabbing some stones.

"Making what?" Gem asked.

"This!" Topaz said, moving out of the way. It wasn't perfect but she had managed to make a cart out of some of the stones and pieces of wood.

"And this is going to help us, how?" Gem asked.

"Just get on." Topaz said.

The other three foxes slowly and carefully got on the cart and Topaz got onto the back, holding onto a bar. She carefully started to roll the cart closer to the course.

"Okay, all of you hold on!" Topaz told them.

The four foxes held on as tightly as they could and Topaz pushed the cart, sending it down the course.

"When I push this cart, we're going downhill, and we'll be going very fast, so hold on tightly." Topaz warned and pushed.

The speed was nothing new to Topaz, she could easily fly faster then this, but the other three foxes couldn't take it. They were screaming like crazy.

"Hey, what's wrong with her?" Topaz asked, pointing at Emerald.

"She breathed in some pollution a long time ago, she's now mute!" Onyx called over the wind.

'WHAT? Emerald's mute?' Topaz thought. 'What's going on here?'

"Uh can I say something?" Gem asked.

"What?" Topaz asked.

"LOOK OUT!"

Topaz saw what it was: one of the loop-de-loops.

"It's okay, just trust me!" Topaz said.

She started spinning her tails faster then she ever had before, giving them even more speed. They were charging straight at the loop, not even stopping. They suddenly started going up.

"Hang on!" Topaz called.

The three foxes grabbed onto the sides of the cart and held on. An as they started going up side down, a song filled the air. Topaz didn't understand why but she knew the song and the urge to sing it was strong. Before they even realized it, all four of them were singing.

"The mountains are calling you!

The sky is calling you!

Something's waiting for you, far over the horizon!

Oh so vividly, the blood is flaming!

Now I realize…the reason…why…I was born!

Run and run!

Run and run!

Become one with the wind and run!

Exceed what you did yesterday!

Challenge that stand which stands so much taller then us!

Like that, youth is a shooting star, that never burns out!"

When the four snapped back to reality, they realized that they were running on air!

"What's going on?" Onyx cried.

"The wind is so strong here that it'll keep us from falling!" Topaz explained. "Don't worry, we're almost out of here!"

Almost as soon as Topaz had said it, they landed on solid ground!

"Is this piece of land floating in the air?" Gem asked.

"Don't ask questions, now come on!" Topaz said, and ran to the center. "Come on!"

"What are we doing now?" Onyx asked.

"Getting out of here!" Topaz said. "Look!"

They looked behind them and saw the robots were riding on the winds but not very well.

"Come on!" Topaz said as she pushed a boulder out of her way.

"What's that gonna do?" Gem asked.

Topaz then revealed an opening in the ground.

"This'll take us back to where we started." Topaz said. "Otherwise we'll be trapped here for a while!"

With that said, Topaz jumped into the hole and slid down, her cries echoing.

"Here we go again." Onyx said, and slowly slid in.

Gem looked at Emerald. Emerald went in after her sister and let her silent laughter out.

"Beats getting caught by those dumbots." Gem said quietly and jumped in.

With Topaz in the lead, they all fell and tumbled down the long slide. The laughter of the foxes, that could, echoed through out Windy Valley. After what seemed like a long time, they finally hit hard ground.

"Ouch, where are we?" Onyx asked.

"Back at the beginning." Topaz said, looking around.

There was a loud crashing sound. They looked back and saw that a robot had gotten stuck at the end of the long slide.

"That won't hold them for long." Topaz said. "I suggest we get as far away as possible."

"HEY!"

The four turned around fast and saw another fox, and this one had two tails!

'SPIN!' Topaz thought happily.

The Tails look alike landed right in front of them when Topaz noticed something that scared her: Spin had a long scar under his left eye!

"Are you four alright?" Spin asked, not even noticing Topaz's shock!

"I think so." Gem said, nodding her head only once. "But I don't think we would have been if it wasn't for her." And the older the fox pointed at Topaz.

"It was nothing." Topaz said, looking rather cute.

"What happened?" Spin asked.

"She took us into a place called Windy Valley and got the robots chasing us stuck up in there!" Onyx said, pointing at the hole.

Spin let out a low whistle, making Topaz look at him.

'What's going on here?' She thought. 'Spin never acts like this, well he hasn't before, anyway.'

Topaz looked hard at Spin's brown eyes and couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

"My name is Spin, I'm with the Freedom Fighters, who are you four?" He said.

"I'm Gemstone, Gemstone Fox, nice to meet you."

"I'm Onyx and this is my sister Emerald, she's mute so she can't talk."

"I'm Topaz, Topaz the Fox."

"'THE' Fox?" Spin asked.

"Yeah, something wrong with my title?" Topaz asked.

"Yeah, why are you 'THE' Fox?" Spin asked.

"It's similar to the title of my two best friends, Shelby the Hedgehog and May the Echidna." Topaz said. "We're some great fighters, our Team Blast is something to fear."

"'Team Blast'?" Spin asked.

"Yeah, it's when the three of us use a powerful attack together, but it takes a lot of energy." Topaz explained.

"I'll believe you…for now." Spin said.

"Spin, have you ever heard of music?" Onyx asked.

"Yeah, it's just a myth though." He said.

"It's not a myth, we saw it for ourselves!" Onyx said.

"You what?" Spin asked.

"When we were in Windy Valley, it was all around us! Then we started saying things that sounded like music!" Onyx said happily.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

They looked at Topaz. She was laughed!

"Are you…laughing?" Spin asked, almost scared.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" She asked.

"No, it's just that, the only ones who laugh these days work for Robotnik." Spin said, a terrified look was plastered onto his face.

"If you think I'm with him, think again. I'd like to take him down just like every other Freedom Fighter would." Topaz said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then why were you laughing?" Spin asked, peppering her with strange questions.

"Because you can't see music, but you can hear it." Topaz explained.

"Hear it but can't see it?" Spin asked.

"Yeah, and music isn't just in Windy Valley, it's all around us, not matter what you do, there's music everywhere." Topaz said. "Tap your feet, you've got a beat, drum your fingers, you're drumming to a beat, just like a drum. Pluck some strings, they'll vibrate and make music, just like a guitar or a piano. Or something as simple as the wind." When Topaz said that, a light breeze blew around them. "It whistles and all you have to do is listen closely enough." A light whistling sound echoed all around them and Topaz whistled with it. "There's also the music of nature, birds singing, the babble of a creek, the roar of a waterfall, the crash of waves, the wind rustling through the leafs of a tree and reeds, you just need to look at nature through different eyes. Sometimes I think that the music of nature is the most beautiful music in the world."

"I don't get it." Onyx said.

"Not many do, really." Topaz said. "But if you just listen hard enough, you can hear it anywhere."

The four foxes looked at her totally stunned.

"I know I'm not making much sense but it's true." Topaz said, looking to the sky.

"Whatever." Spin said. "You better come with me. I'm with the Freedom Fighters in a robot factory valley."

"Robot factory valley?" Topaz questioned.

"That's what we call a town that's been all but completely taken over." Spin explained.

'Makes sense to me.' Topaz thought.

CRASH!

"What the?!" Spin cried.

Topaz was the first to see it: Angel Island had fallen again!

"W…What happened?" Spin asked, almost scared.

"Angel Island fell!" Topaz told him.

"Angel Island?" He asked.

"It's also known as The Floating Island." Topaz explained.

"Isn't the Floating Island just a myth?" Onyx asked.

"Was music a myth?' Topaz asked.

"Good point." Gem said.

"I've gotta check this out." Topaz said, beginning to spin her tails.

"What are you doing?" Spin almost screamed.

"I'm going to check it out, what do you think I'm doing?" She demanded.

"No one goes to that cursed island any more! Not since three of us were captured on it!" Spin said.

"What?" Topaz asked. "Forget it! Something HAS to be wrong with the Master Emerald for the island to fall!"

"'Master Emerald'?" Spin asked.

"A powerful emerald that's what holds the island in the air!" Topaz almost yelled.

"I've been up there before, I never saw any emerald, a strange shrine yes, but no emerald." Spin said.

Topaz could feel her heart drop. She knew that Spin had been there before she had been there with him. And what happened to Cream? The last time she checked, he and EM were always arguing over who got Cream. She knew very well that she liked EM because he reminder her so much about Emerl, in fact, Topaz thought that he WAS Emerl only in the body of a fox, somehow brought back, he acted just like the robot had and his eyes were the same as Emerl's, so she was positive it was him. But she also knew that Cream liked Spin because he was very sweet, very nice, very kind, and a pro at compliments, he could charm anyone, even Eggman's robots!

"Something wrong?" Spin asked.

"It's…It's nothing." Topaz said, snapping back to reality. "Are you sure that there was no large emerald?"

"I'm sure." Spin said.

"What about a red echidna, or a pink one?" Topaz asked.

"No. The echidnas are next to being wiped off the face of the planet. There are hardly any left." Spin said.

"Oh…" Topaz knew that there were very few echidnas left in the world and May was one of them, as well as Knuckles, but in reality, they had moved underground, there were just a few on the surface. "Are you sure?"

"As sure as I have two tails." He said.

"You better include me in that" Topaz said.

"What do you mean?" Spin asked.

"I mean these." Topaz said, turning around.

"WHOA! YOU HAVE TWO TAILS TOO!"

"I know it." Topaz said.

"And that's no big deal?" Spin asked.

"No. Why?" Topaz asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, it's not normal." Spin said. "I mean, don't people make fun of you?"

"Sometimes, but someone I know told me that different doesn't mean bad, it just means different, like everyone else." Topaz said.

"I guess that makes sense." Spin said.

"Spin?" Topaz asked. "Would you…is it possible that you know a cobalt blue hedgehog with opal blue eyes named Shelby?"

"No, why?" Spin asked.

"She's…my friend." Topaz said, looking to the ground.

"Did she get captured?" Spin asked.

"I don't know."

"Well, I'll take you to the base and see what we can do." Spin said with a shrug.

"Alright." Topaz nodded.

Spin then started leading the four girls away from the Mystic Ruins. But the whole time, Topaz couldn't help but look at the fallen island.

'What's happened to the Mystic Ruins?' She thought, looking sadly at the once beautiful place. 'Where are you, big sister?' She thought, looking to a cloud that looked just like her best friend.


	3. What's Happened to Angel Island?

**What's Happened to Angel Island?**

May's brown eyes scanned the area around her. She was still on Angel Island, it was still the same but there was something…off about it.

"Everything is so quiet." She whispered.

The pink echidna didn't fully understand what was going on.

"Oh, I'm never going to get the stains out of these clothes." She whined.

This was one certain echidna that would rather be in a mall then taking care of the Chaos Emeralds any day. Her short sleeves shirt was a bit of a mess, the red, white, and blue stripes had a few dirt marks on them and the single star had barely any dirt on it. Her pearl white skirt was in no better shape, a few dirt stains here and there but nothing too hard to get out. Her white sneakers were also a little dirty, as well as the fake stars attached to her head, and the red ribbons going down her dreadlocks and then going back up the other side.

"I guess that doesn't matter, but I wonder where Knuckles is, I can usually sense him when I'm on the island. I wonder where he went."

May had the ability to sense people within ten miles, as well as the changes in the dimensional rifts, so if anything happened, she'd be the first to know. She could also talk with Tikal through her mind.

"I wonder if she and Chaos are alright. I better call her."

May sat down, crossed her legs, placed her hands in her lap, slowly closed her eyes, focused her energies, turned her head up to the skies, and her voice echoed through out the entire island. The mystical melody of her voice bounced everywhere.

She then saw herself being pulled from her body at great speeds, but it was really her spirit, she knew that she had to return quickly because she was leaving her body behind, and if it was killed, then she would be trapped between the living world and the afterlife. As her spirit sped through time and space, she could feel Tikal, calling for her.

She then slowed and slowly landed on her feet, bending down and touching the ground beneath her. She looked around, trying to find her friend.

"Tikal? Tikal!" She called. "Something's not right, she always comes when I all."

"Hello?"

May jumped at the voice. She turned around fast and saw something that made her smile: Tikal.

"Tikal, you scared me." May said.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's alright." May said. "But listen, something is very wrong with Angel Island. I couldn't sense Knuckles anywhere, not even in the underground caverns. I was hoping you'd know where he is."

"I don't." The princess said.

"Aw man!" May whined.

"Now if you'll excuse me." Tikal said.

"Of course." May said and sat back down.

She was then launched back into the air and back into her own body.

"That was too weird, Knuckles always tells Tikal where he's going, if not Chaos and he tells her. Something's not right…here."

May suddenly let out a sharp cry! She clutched her head and fell down to one knee. Something was wrong with the Master Emerald!

"I have to check it out!" She said and took off running.

Ignoring the pounding pain in her head, May ran as fast as she possibly could towards the Alter not stopping once.

"Please be alright, please be alright please be alright." She whispered to herself.

She, finally skid to a stop in the clearing, the Alter just yards ahead of her. May took in a deep, shaky breath and slowly began the long walk up the stairs to the top. May closed her eyes as she reached the top, hoping to see what she saw in her mind. She finally reached the top and opened her eyes. The Master Emerald was gone!

"Oh, Knuckles is NOT going to be happy about this." She mumbled.

A smell suddenly made its way into May's nose.

"Smoke?" She asked quietly. "FIRE!"

She turned around fast and saw heavy smoke coming from somewhere.

"Not good, not good, not good!" She panicked.

May headed in the direction of the smoke, not caring about what laid ahead. She quickly skid to another quick halt when she saw what was making the smoke: a robot factory!

"Oh, Knuckles is SO going to bite my head off!" May said, clutching her dreadlocks.

"WORK FASTER!"

May stopped at the sound of a whip cracking.

"Now what?" She asked herself.

She got down on all fours and peeked down a hill, trying to get a better lock. A worker bot was holding a laser whip and was using it on two bats and an echidna. May stared a little harder at them and gasped! She knew who they were!

'ROUGE! FIRE! FLAME!' She thought. 'You can mess with the island, but not my friends!'

May grabbed large rock nearby and hurdled it at the robot, crashing it at once!

"Bulls eye!" She cried, and slid down the kill to her friends. "You guys alright?"

"I think so." Fire said. The red bat had shackles around her wrists that were connected to Rouge and hers lead to Flame's.

"Hang on, I'll have you out in sec." May said, grabbed the chains, and pulled.

The chains snapped easily. Sometimes having the strength of a guardian, mainly Knuckles', came in handy. She then grabbed the ones that held Rouge to Flame and broke them, freeing all three.

"C'mon, lets' get out of here." May said.

"Right." Rouge nodded.

Suddenly, something hit May like a brick and she gasped!

" The Master Emerald!" She cried.

"The what?' Rouge asked but it was too late, May was already gone.

The pink echidna ran as fast as she could and that was quite fast. She knew that the Master Emerald was in the building and she HAD to find it!

"This way!" She whispered and made a sharp turn.

May then found herself in some sort of generator room. And, there, in the very center of the room, several wires attached to it, was the Master Emerald!

"Oh my gosh, what did they do?" May cried grabbing a handful of wires. "The Master Emerald is all but drained." She pulled all of the wires off the gem and kept pulling.

The alarms started flaring. That meant that guards were coming and May knew that was NOT good! She quickly pulled the Master Emerald, placed it on her back, and took off running.

"No more power supply, no more factory, and I get the Master Emerald back, it's a three for one deal!" She laughed to herself. "Wait, if the alarms are going off then that means that there's still power! Man I HATE back up generators!"

She then noticed a room surging with power. She recognized that kind of power. She placed the Master Emerald down, carefully opened the door, and peeked in. She knew it! There, in the center of the room was the backup power supply.

"A neutron generator core!" She said in awe. "So that's why this place is still goin'."

She knew a lot about neutron generators. Very powerful little things, just one could keep something as big and powerful as the Blue Typhoon going for months on end and not lose any power.

"If I take that out then this whole joint will go down!" She smirked to herself. "I'm going to love this!' She laughed to herself and ran to the core.

She carefully slipped her hands under the glowing orb, amazed by its dangerous beauty, just like Rouge.

"Okay, May, it's no problem, you've dealt with these a million times before." She said, trying to calm herself.

She took in a deep breath and with a hard toss, threw it back into the room. It suddenly started to glow red!

"That's my cue!" She said, grabbed the Master Emerald, and made a break for it.

She ran as fast as she could go, not stopping once. She made a mad dash out the main entrance.

"It's times like this I wish I was as fast as Knuckles." She sighed.

She then saw three figures standing nearby.

"Guys?" She asked. "What are they still doing here?"

She changed course and headed to them.

"Hey, you guys better get out of here." She warned. "This whole place is gonna go up in smoke in a few minutes."

"What do you mean?" Flame asked.

"I mean this place is gonna blow with the power of over one hundred kenos!" She cried.

"One hundred? That's gonna vaporize the place!" Fire exclaimed.

"Yeah, and if we DON'T get outta here, we're gonna be caught in the blast!" May said.

"Good idea, but how far?" Rouge asked.

"There's a waterfall not to far away from here, we'll be safe at the grove it leads to." May explained. "I'll lead."

Without even giving them a chance to say anything, May took the lead. Soon they found themselves at the beautiful grove.

"We should be safe here." May said, placing the Master Emerald down. "But you might wanna cover your ears, even from here the blast is gonna be big!"

They four covered their ears and waited. After a few seconds, there was a loud blast. The explosion was quite large they could even feel the heat searing from it.

"Whoa." Flame said in surprise. "I'm glad we were the only slaves there."

"You were the only ones there?" May questioned.

"Yeah." He said, nodding.

"At least we don't have to worry about any lost lives." May said, walking over to the Master Emerald. She kneeled down by it and slowed at it in an almost sad way. She pulled out a cloth from her pocket and dipped it into the water, letting it soak. After a few minutes, she pulled the cloth out o the water and started gently rubbing the Master Emerald.

"What are you doing?" Fire asked, rubbing her very tiny dark glasses.

"I'm trying to restore some of the Master Emerald's power." She explained, rubbing the center.

"What's the big deal, it's just a jewel." Rouge said. "What good is it in a war?"

"Duh, it's the Master Emerald. It's super powerful and-"

May stopped dead in her sentence.

"What?" Rouge asked.

"What…did…you…just…say?" May asked in a scared voice.

"I said: what's the big deal, it's just a jewel, what good is it in a war?" She repeated.

"I thought you said that." May said, getting to her feet.

May started walking around Rouge, checking things out.

"Alright, who are you and what did you do with the real Rouge the Bat?" She asked.

"How did you know my name?" She demanded.

The bat jumped to her feet and made a dive for May. The pink echidna, however, jumped high into the air making the extremely easy dodge.

"Oh give it up." May said. "There aren't very many who can take me on! Knuckles is the only one who usually has a chance against me!"

"Who the heck is Knuckles?" Rouge demanded.

"Ha, everyone knows he's the guardian of this island!" May said, dodging Rouge again.

"Yeah right, besides from Robotnik, we're the only living creatures on the Floating Island!" She said, making another grab for the young echidna.

"Floating Island? The name is Angel Island!" May said in protest.

"That's what you say!" Rouge said, taking to the air.

"Come on, come on, come on, you wanna piece of this?" May taunted, jumping over the bat.

May was having the time of it, this bat wasn't nearly as good as the real Rouge, she hadn't even broken a sweat and the bat before her was already panting.

"I think it's time we took this fight underground." May said. She jumped up into the air, made a super sharp 180 and started drilling into the ground so fast that the bat and echidna that had been watching barely even saw it.

"Where…did she go?" Fire asked.

Rouge landed on the ground, and looked around in confusion. There was a sudden cracking under her. That was when she realized what was happening! She tried to fly but it was too late. May popped up from under the ground and pulled Rouge to the ground. She then covered Rouge's body with her own.

"Told ya very few could take me on." May said.

"Alright, you've beaten me, not get it over with." Rouge said.

"Get what over with?" May asked.

"Kill me, you lose in a fight and you get killed." Rouge said. "That's the way of fighting."

"What?! That's the most ridicules thing that I've heard!" May snapped, getting off of Rouge.

"You're…not going to kill me?" The white bat asked.

"I just saved your life, do you think I'd want to kill you if I did that?" May asked.

"But, that's how it's been for all of time." Rouge said. "You lose in a fight and you get killed."

"That's not true, I've lost plenty of fights in my life, and I'm still here." May snapped.

"Who are you?" Rouge asked in a quiet voice.

"I'm May the Echidna, the barer of the Crest of Sincerity! It's not my duty to kill, but it is my duty to protect everyone on this planet, as well as the others who bare the other eleven purities!"

"Purities?" Rouge asked.

"Yes. The twelve purities are the goodness in the universe and without them, the light that makes the goodness would go out and all of the good in the universe would disappear, forever."

"Could…could they stop Robotnik?" Rouge asked.

"Not sure but they are powerful." May said.

"How powerful is yours?" Fire asked.

"Well, it's not the most powerful but it's not the weakest." May said.

"Which one is the most powerful?" Flame asked.

"The Crest of Light, my friend, Shelby, bares it." May said, pulling the white string out from under her top.

"That it?" Rouge asked.

"Yep." May said, looking at the small pendent, the small teardrop shaped mark reflecting the light.

"Doesn't look like much." Rouge said.

"Don't let it fool you, this thing can pack a punch! You should see Topaz's Wind Blast, now that baby packs a punch!" She said. "But Shelby's Homing Attack will send you into next week! But _MY _Drill Dive attack is some hot stuff!"

"So we saw." Rouge said.

"Don't worry about it, not many can beat that sneak attack! Not even some of the dumbots! And I use the word 'dumb' very heavily!" May said. "Butt'nik still hasn't figured out how to stop our attacks."

"Really? I've always thought he was brilliant." Fire said.

"Tch! Guy can't even stop our weakest attack!" May said.

"He can't?" They asked.

"Nope." She said, laying back.

"Boy, wait until the others hear about this." Flame said.

"What are you talking about?" May asked.

"He's talking about our Freedom Fighter group." Rouge said.

"But how do we get off the island?" Fire asked.

"Well…there's always, MY way." May said.

"What's that?" Rouge asked.

Suddenly the Master Emerald stopped glowing!

"Or we could try this way." She said.

"What do you mean?" Rouge asked.

There was strong tremor!

"The Island is falling! Without the Master Emerald's power the island can't stay a float!" May explained.

After a minute, they had hit the ground, HARD.

"Well, that wasn't so bad." May said.

"You call that 'not so bad'?" Rouge asked.

"Ah, I've been through worse." May said, dusting herself off.

"If you say so." Flame said.

"Well, this'll help us get to your base." May said.

"If you say so." Flame said.

"Lead the way." May said, picking up the Master Emerald.

Flame nodded and took the lead. Fire followed close behind with Rouge behind her and May took up the rear, carrying the weak Master Emerald high above her head. Even though she didn't show it, her mind was a whirl of questions.

'What's going on here?' She thought. 'Everything is…different. And Rouge usually can beat me in a fight. I know that bat is, her but why didn't she use the Screw Kick? And what about Fire and Flame? Fire isn't teasing him like always, and he isn't threatening to tear her limb from limb. And why is the Master Emerald so low on energy? And what about Knuckles? What's Happened to Angel Island? I wonder, what happened to Shelby and Topaz? I'm worried about them.'

Little did Shelby, Topaz, or May know that they would soon see each other again, but in a world that needed them more then anything. Their powers would heal the world, but they didn't know of it, and this time, they only had their two friends to turn to for they were the only ones who knew how it should be.


	4. Together Again

**Together Again**

Shelby laid her gaze on Rika. Her skin was crawling so badly that it was spreading to her fur. She had the strangest feeling about this place, and she didn't like it in the least.

"Where is everyone?" She asked herself.

She had taken notice that most of the boys were missing, Bat was one of the very few she had seen. She had heard Spin's name, so she knew that the yoyo loving fox was still around. She smiled slightly to herself, wondering what yoyo he was going to have this time. She had also heard Flame's name, so she knew that Knuckles' self proclaimed distant cousin was also around, he was a nice guy but he still was too much like Knuckles for his own good.

"I've returned."

Shelby turned to the door and saw Spin. There was something wrong. He had a long scar under one eye for starters and it sort of gave her the creeps. Behind him was Onyx who was holding onto Emerald, Gemstone, and…

'TOPAZ!' Shelby thought.

It took every ounce of strength she could muster to not run over to the young fox and pull her into her biggest bear hug. That was one of things her friends would joke about. Shelby could give one killer death hug. They usually joked, saying she would squeeze someone to death someday but she doubted she could hug anyone THAT tightly.

She turned to Topaz and got a good look into her eyes. There was something there that only she Topaz could see. Topaz let out a small gasp upon seeing her and placed her hand over her mouth and Shelby knew why. Whatever was wrong with the world hadn't done a thing to her at all so she remembered her. Shelby couldn't hold her self back any more.

"TOPAZ!"

She ran straight to the young fox and she did the same. Everything just seemed to fade away for the two and Topaz jumped into Shelby's arms. Shelby held her best friend close to her and felt like she would never let her go again. That was all right with Topaz 'cause she didn't want her to.

"Thank goodness that you're alright." Shelby whispered into her ear.

"Likewise." Topaz whispered her voice a little muffled by the fact that her face was implanted in Shelby's chest. Shelby just fell to her knees and stroked the young fox's head.

"You know this fox?"

Shelby opened her eyes and saw Rika.

"Yes, she's my best friend." She said, whipping a tear from her eye.

Topaz was still snuggled into her arms even though she was getting a bit big for it. But either way, Shelby didn't really care as long as she had her best friend with her.

"What's going on here?"

They turned and saw Flame, he had Fire and Rouge with him.

"I thought Flame couldn't stand Fire." Topaz whispered to Shelby.

"He's just like Knuckles when it comes to Rouge." She whispered back.

That's when the two noticed the pink echidna behind them…

'MAY!' They both thought.

The pink echidna turned to them in surprise and a small smile started tugging at her mouth.

"I…Is she…?" Topaz couldn't finish.

Shelby looked hard into the echidna's brown eyes. There was a single 'spark'.

"She is." Shelby said, her voice starting to crack.

None of them could hold themselves back. The three ran to each other. The second they embraced they knew it was them.

"It's great to see you guys again." May whispered.

"Right back at 'cha, May." Shelby quietly said.

"Ditto." Topaz said.

"You know her too?" Rika asked.

"Yeah, all three of us are a team." Shelby said, not bothering to hold back her tears.

"The best." Topaz said.

"No matter what happens." May said, placing her arms around them.

"Get off, Dread Head." Shelby said, using her nickname.

"Watch it, Beautiful Blur." May said, using her nickname.

Topaz just laughed happily.

"Hey! It's my job to make Topaz laugh!" Shelby joked.

Topaz just laughed again.

"There, are you happy now?" May asked.

"Yes." Shelby said, causing all three of them to laugh.

From where she was watching, Rika was next to stunned. She had never seen anyone act like that before, let alone three girls.

"What is with them?" Fire asked her.

"I don't know." Rika said. "But how did you three get back here? Or escape from the factory for that matter?"

"It was because she freed us and blew up the whole factory!" Flame said.

"The pink echidna?" Rika asked.

"Yeah. She snapped the chains that held us like it was paper!" Rouge said.

"And she cut through the chains that held us together with her tails!" Onyx said.

"Really?" Rika asked.

"Yeah, she just spun around, turned her tails on the chains and cut clean through!" Gem said.

"Interesting, because according to those who the one called Shelby saved said that she simply pulled on the chains and they broke." Rika said.

"That IS weird." Flame agreed.

"Is it?" Rouge asked. "I think that there's something that they're not telling us."

"What are you saying Rouge?" Rika asked.

"The pink was looking at me strange and asked me and even stranger question." The white bat said.

"Well whatever it is, I think we should keep an eye on them either way." Rika said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I agree full heartedly." Flame said.

"Whoever they are, we're going to find out." Rika said, looking at them.

"Something's going on and WE'VE Gotta check it out." Shelby whispered to her two friends.

"What do you mean?" Topaz asked.

"I mean that there's something MONDO weird going on!" She answered. "Icy wanting to be called Rika chief among them!"

"You've been seeing weird stuff lately too?" Topaz asked. "I thought I was the only one! Spin has a scar under his eye, Onyx, Emerald, and Gemstone all have only ONE tail, Emerald is MUTE, and on top of all that, Spin hasn't taken out a yoyo once or talked about making Cream his!"

"That's nothing!" May said. "When Rouge saw the Master Emerald she didn't try to take it and she asked what was so great about it, and I beat her in a fight without even breaking a sweat and, and, and,-"

"May, we get the idea calm down." Shelby said.

"Did I hear you right or did you say that Rouge turned down the Master Emerald?" Topaz asked.

"You heard me right." May said.

"That IS bad." Shelby agreed.

They looked at each other for second.

"Spark." They said together.

Shelby turned to Rika she kept her eyes on the pink ones. Shelby focused a little more and saw what she was looking for. There was a sort of invisible twinkle in her eye.

"It's not the same." Shelby said, shaking her head.

Shelby had a special ability to see into people's eyes and, see certain things. She could tell if they were good or not, if there was something they were hiding, how they were feeling, and there was still some she had yet to discover.

"Are you positive?" May asked.

"May, this one looks like Amy's and Shadow's put together!" Shelby said.

"Speaking of whom, what's with Rika's clothes?" Topaz asked. "Last time I checked everything that was red on Amy was icy blue on Rika."

"And let's not forget the Icy Mallet." May said.

"And the one thing we ALL know about." Shelby said.

"The scar." Topaz and May said.

They turned to Rika who was still talking with Flame. They checked her upper left forehead for the small heart shaped scar.

"IT'S GONE!" Topaz said in a sharp whisper.

"You don't think that Tucker-"

"No way. That guy is too twisted to become a good guy." Shelby said, cutting May off.

"Then how do you explain the missing scar?" Topaz asked.

"Heck should I know?" Shelby hissed.

"Lets just keep our eyes peeled incase he tries anything…funny." May said.

"Agreed." Shelby said.

"Alright." Topaz said.

"Lets do it to it." They all said.


End file.
